CV Risk Linked to Earlier Gray Matter Volume Loss in Men

TOPLINE:

Cardiovascular (CV) risk and obesity are strongly associated with loss of gray matter volume in men aged 55-74 years, whereas women show the greatest effects between the ages of 65 and 74 years, new research shows.

METHODOLOGY:

• Researchers analyzed more than 34,000 participants between the ages of 45 and 82 years from the UK Biobank database.
• T1-weighted structural MRI scans were performed to characterize volumetric changes in the whole brain. Participants underwent both brain and abdominal MRI scans.
• The analysis included voxel-based morphometry to evaluate the influence of Framingham CV risk, abdominal subcutaneous adipose tissue, and visceral adipose tissue volume on cortical gray matter volume across different decades of life.

TAKEAWAY:

• Men showed the greatest influence of CV risk and obesity on the reduction of gray matter volume between the ages of 55 and 64 years, with the effects persisting through the age of 74 years and affecting 67% of gray matter voxels.
• Women showed the strongest relationship between CV risk and reduced gray matter volume between the ages of 65 and 74 years, affecting 43% of gray matter voxels.
• Temporal lobe regions, crucial for memory and emotional processing, showed particular vulnerability to CV risk effects in both apolipoprotein (APOE) ε4 carriers and noncarriers when evaluated separately.
• Higher volumes of abdominal subcutaneous adipose tissue and visceral adipose tissue were associated with lower brain volume in 61% and 64% of gray matter voxels, respectively.

IN PRACTICE:

“This highlights the importance of aggressively targeting cardiovascular risk factors before the age of 55 years to prevent neurodegeneration and Alzheimer’s disease, in addition to the benefit of preventing other cardiovascular events such as myocardial infarction and stroke,” the investigators wrote.

SOURCE:

The study was led by Joseph Nowell, Imperial College London, London, England. It was published online on November 27 in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry.

LIMITATIONS:

The UK Biobank did not record Alzheimer’s disease-specific biomarkers, making the effect of CV risk non-disease–specific. The limited effects observed in participants older than 75 years may have been influenced by the relatively small sample size of this age group vs other age groups in the study. Additionally, there were no direct comparisons between APOE genotypes.

DISCLOSURES:

One author received funding through a university PhD scholarship. Another author received funding from several organizations, including medical research councils and Alzheimer’s-focused foundations, alongside consultancy and research grants from various pharmaceutical companies. Details are fully listed in the original article.

This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.